MSIA travel staff are currently in Australia, providing MSIA Services (Innerphasings, Polarity Balances & Aura Balances) as well as MSIA events. Staff member, Angel Gibson, provides this update from the trip:
Day 14 — Sydney
How wonderful to have a free day today. Cleora heads down to the Sydney Opera house on the harbor for a tour, I do a little workout and then work at my computer. Vincent and Lesley do their own thing. Later in the afternoon Vincent and I meet with Chris Haupt, Erika Yeates, Andrew St. John, Wendy Bennett, Bob Zapf, Julie Chenery and Rick Greene to review initiations. Then we staff and Rick and David Sand head to the harbor to join up with some Aussie MSIAers on a lovely yacht for a dinner and dancing cruise of Sydney harbor.
As the boat motors around the harbor we delight in the beautiful hues and color changes that dusk brings – that magic hour. How absolutely gorgeous. We park at the Opera house garage and walk around circular quay towards our boat’s dock. So much to see and hear, including this interesting twosome playing the didgeridoo’s. We board the boat meeting up with Cleora, John Morton and many Aussie friends – over 70 of them. As the boat takes off we move up on top deck, enjoying the cool breeze and the sights of the Opera house and the Darling harbor bridge, the Botanical Gardens and other sites. Some of our American friends are with us too – Joan Beisel, Ezra Mack and Susan Valascovic. We’re having a fun catching up with each other as we watch the colors change over the Opera house. John graciously accepts many requests for pictures against the harbor and bridge backdrops. Soon dinner is announced and we continue our fellowshipping below, munching on a good buffet spread. The Traveler, John, makes his way around to each table checking in with everyone there. Then things liven up more with some music that gets many of us up on our feet doing our own version of “footloose and fancy free” dancing. I go up to the top deck and the music is up there too so I get to move under the stars to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” and other special tunes that keep us swaying and our toes tapping. The Harbor is now a rainbow of lights and sounds as we watch other boats and ferries flow by us. Before we know it the captain announces that it’s time to dock. As we file off the ship and hug and kiss goodbye we hear the happy comments of many satisfied participants. We’re a little sleepy but very happy and grateful to have been treated to this open-air night out. Our heartfelt thanks to all of our Aussie family who made this outing in the harbor available to us.
And then we walk around the key, get our car and head for home and –you guessed it–more emails. Tomorrow we go into Sydney for Services and then the workshop in the evening and the excitement is now building even more.
Day 15 — Sydney
We wake up this morning to the little baby-like cries of birds ( we think they are a mixture of parrots and cockatoos) and the rippling waterfall right outside our balcony. Our rooms are on the “lagoon” side and there is also this Japanese type garden effect with the waterfall as a background and a fountain spraying up into the air in the foreground.
Cleora and I start this day gently with coffees by the fountain…we are enjoying the calm before things rev up with Services and then the workshop this evening. Soon it’s time to start Services. Julie Chenery has done a lovely and effective job of coordinating all the requests. This is no mean feat as people from all over Australia, the Sydney-ites and MSIAers from out of the country have put in bids to get a Service or two while they’re here for the Aussie Conference this weekend. Rick Greene, Brian Cutshall who has flown overnight from Thailand, and Julie are all sitting in to learn Services. Chris Haupt and Lesley join us now, and we all powwow on who is going with who and doing what and then we’re off and running, as it were, to our rooms and Services.
The day whisks by and we have just enough time to clean up a bit and get down to the workshop room. Tonight John Morton is facilitating the Letting Go, Letting God workshop. Ah, that’s my own personal theme for months now so I’m happy to spend an evening with the Traveler exploring, releasing, and freeing up. Erika Yeates is our Mistress of Ceremonies and graciously welcomes the group that is made up of newcomers and MSIAers from all over Australia, U.S., the UK, and even South America. Once John is introduced he takes off with us and when we touch down several hours later we are looking at God and trust God in a whole new way. Some of us float into dinner, sharing some of our experiences of this beautiful evening, and others of us just go straight to bed. I do just a little email tonight, and then sleep claims me as I look for the Traveler in my dreams.
Day 16 — Sydney
It’s Sunday and a beautiful morning is in store for us. Cleora and I enjoy our little coffee morning ritual together. Soon we are joined by Andrew St. John and Bob Zapf, and then Vincent as we continue into breakfast. Catching up with friends is such a blessing on these trips. We all head to the seminar room for ordinations and the Traveler joins us there.
We open to receive of and share in the blessings of these ordinations, and then the doors are opened wide to prepare for the Ministers and Initiates Seminar with John. We are surprised by gifts from our MSIA family here — they are thoughtfully put together for each of us individually and completed with a seeding! Thank you one and all for so caringly designing the perfect gift for us.
Elke Andress calls us into a focus of Light and purpose. Vincent bestows the Volunteer awards that go to Anita Maria and to Kaye Rosnick. We are so happy that they are receiving the awards as each of them has been volunteering for quite a while and doing exceptional jobs – Kaye in Brisbane and Anita here in Sydney. Julie Chenery brings up the Sydney MSIA Choir who do a lovely rendition of the Non Nobis Domine and invite our audience participation. I get goose bumps at one point listening to the song. We stand as John Morton is introduced and welcome John to the stage. Then he begins with a little “housecleaning” that is more like a “housewarming” and is much appreciated, and things get better and better, and go higher and higher. There is nothing like being in a room of dedicated Ministers and Initiates that are so happy to be with the Traveler! Sweetness, Light, Loving Directness are keystones for this seminar and Q&A time. Baruch Bashan signals that our physical time with this Traveler in Australia is just about done. We have been blessed in many ways throughout John’s stay here and are so grateful he came to be and share with us these past few weeks. We bid him tender goodbyes as he heads off to the airport to catch his flight back to Los Angeles. Then it’s time for lunch and more fellowshipping before continuing Services for the second half of the afternoon.
Services seem like they are done in a flash. Cleora, Brian, Rick and I decide to take in a movie tonight; Lesley and Vincent are staying in. I always like these movie nights and what a treat to have one in walking distance. We’re in this sweet cocoon loving it all as we walk to the movies, laugh throughout and return afterwards to our rooms for some evening spiritual exercises, email and hopefully soon some sleep. Thanks for your continued Light as we head to our last full day of Services tomorrow.
Day 17 — Sydney
Our last full day here in Sydney and we’re still catching up with wonderful friends. Cleora and I do our little coffee in front of the waterfall, then workout, and then join up with Lesley and Vincent for breakfast. Colin Bean from London visits with us during breakfast and then Julie Chenery brings to us the newly adjusted Services schedule. We sign up for Services and the balancers-in-training sign up for their slots and then all are off and running, in some cases literally, to start the first Services. As we go through our day there are any number of moments in the balances where we’re just thanking God for the blessing of being right where we are–to witness this beautiful, sacred work of balancing, cleansing, releasing and blessing that takes place in these Services….these words don’t even begin to touch on what is taking place. Lunch is a treat for staff as Sumi Menon has prepared her famous curry for us. Oh my, what great tastes…a veritable Indian feast. Then it’s time to start the second half of the day. Before we know it the Sydney Services are done. We spend a little time doing a review session with all the balancers-in-training, and then Cleora, Vincent, Lesley and I go to dinner to de-brief and celebrate a most wonderful trip. But there’s still more to come as tomorrow morning at 6:30am we will be going with Bob Zapf and Chris Haupt for a special walk by the water and then breakfast down by Darling Harbor Bridge. Time for this lass to go to sleep as my 5:20 am wake-up call is literally just around the corner. Blessings to all and good night!
Day 18 – Sydney to Home
Today we have a special ending to our trip. Chris Haupt is taking Cleora, Vincent, Lesley, Rick and me for a walk around Cremorne Point and for breakfast at Ripples at the foot of Darling Harbor Bridge, across from the Opera House. It’s a little cooler and the sky is overcast as we get to Cremorne’s ferry landing. As we’re pulling up a fine rain has started; however, there is sun shining on the Opera house and the office buildings behind it. We look across the harbor and silhouetted brilliantly against the grey rain mist and spanning the width of the harbor is a glorious double rainbow. Oh, where is David Sand, we moan out loud. Still, we tease Chris that the rainbow is good, but how supreme it would be if it actually started at the Opera house and bowed across the harbor. We laugh, then we gasp, because as we drive around the bend we see that now the rainbow is indeed even more brilliantly moved directly onto the Opera house (in fact we see the Opera house bathed in multi-colored columns) and radiates out over the Harbor Bridge. Now Chris Haupt has more than our full-on respect. What an amazing director and scene designer with God is he — we extol out loud his virtues and gifts. We get out of our cars and watch the ferries gliding in and out of the rainbow that is now reflecting itself into the water directly in front of the Opera house and the ferries seem to get a rainbow shower as they effortlessly move in and out of the rainbow. Alas, not one among us has a camera or a cell phone or anything to record this magical amazing moment! What a start to our walk. We first walk out to the point, scaling down the little cliff and walking out on a footwalk to the little lighthouse that is now vacant. We wave at the passing ferries whose waves hit up against the footwalk–oooh the cool wind is nippy. One by one we head back up the cliff, noting the natural sandiness of the cliff walls.
After a few minutes Lesley happens to look up and gives a very demure screech to indicate to us the presence of many spiders in gorgeous nets, spiders of all shapes and sizes. Though we are pretty sure those spiders are very content to stay in their webs, we do pick up the pace and head around the inside section of the point noting the lovely homes on the hillside and peacefulness of all the sailboats that are anchored in this cove. Chris, Vincent, and I relate to the others our stories of having done Services in the home of Commander SeaDog and Mistress Miffy (or perhaps you might remember them as Murray and Margaret Strudwick) when we were first doing Services in Sydney. Staying in their home was a treat. In the morning little Lorikeets (that look like our multicolored parrots) would come to the porch (and in Vincent’s case perch on his shoulders and arms) for a little breakfast and attention. In fact, one cheeky Lorikeet flew into a bush and Cleora and Rick went over to inspect it more closely. We walked almost to the ferry landing and turned around for time was dictating that if we were going to get breakfast, we better go right now.
Lesley and Vincent head back to the hotel to pack; Chris, Rick, Cleora and I are intrepid and very hungry and we head to Ripples. This simple restaurant is right next to the entrance of Luna Park. This entrance has a unique face that looks like a huge doll face which is right out of the 40’s or 50’s. No sooner do we sit down, then the rains pour. Again we feel the grace of perfect timing, and of course, thank Chris, for his on-going communication with the chief producer of this morning’s show, God. We like to come to Ripples because the Darling Harbor Bridge towers above us, the ferries gracefully flow by on the waters that are lapping right next to us, and the food is hearty, a little unique (Sour Cherry Toast for example) and the coffee and espresso are soooo good. We order a feast and do our best to consume as much as we can feeling we deserve it after our walk. Though we would want to spend the whole morning relaxing, chatting and taking in this vibrant, moving scene before us, we mobilize ourselves to get the car and soon we’re heading back to our hotel for final packing.
Chris hangs with us and is soon joined by Gaethan and Anita Maria — all of whom have come to drive us to the airport. While we bring our suitcases down, Richard Price and Gaethan go in search of the storage room where the audio/video equipment is being stored. When we staff get downstairs with our bags, we notice that Richard, Gaethan and now Anita Maria are walking back and forth with several of the hotel bellman and personnel. This unusual parade gets our attention and soon we realize that something is up. Turns out that a courier had come the day before and picked up all the product boxes, room supplies AND ALL the audio/Video cases BUT no one knew who the courier was or where the items were going. YIKES! We have a carnet/bond that necessitates we take the equipment with us. Oh boy, the search and investigation is on. In the meantime while the hotel is doing their end of the search, we staff head to the airport and check in. On the bright side, some of us have been upgraded, so we have a delicious moment of gratitude. On the moment-of-reality side, Richard must re-ticket so he can stay and continue supervising the search for the equipment and bring it back. We do hugs all around to Gaethan, Chris, and Anita who have gone beyond the call to serve us and the community during the last 10 days. We hug Richard and Vincent gives last minute instructions for him. Then we’re pretty much on a fast walk to go through immigration, security and then boarding…and yes, there’s enough time to purchase at least 2 colorful magazines that will bring Cleora and me up-to-date on the goings and comings of Hollywood land ….of course, as part of our re-entry.
Vincent, Lesley, David, Cleora and I board the plane. Once on the plane we settle in–each of us having our own particular way of nesting. For me I’m tired and sleepy so after calling in the Light for the plane and all, AND Richard and the equipment, and having a little dinner and a little movie, I quickly succumb to a twilight sleep, certainly a nice rest. We softly land in the U.S. and are welcomed ever so courteously by our Immigration officers. We speed through customs since we don’t have the equipment with us. We hug Cleora as she must catch her flight to Santa Barbara; we wave goodbye to Vincent and Lesley who grab a cab, and David and I bundle into Roger Wakefield’s car to go to our homes.
What an amazingly graceful trip this has been! Our love and thanks go out to each of our Aussie family. We are so grateful for all you did to support the smoothness, lightness, loving and joy prevailing throughout our stay. May your year be full of the blessings one-hundredfold. Thank you all for sending Light to all of us throughout the journey; this Light is such a beautiful, buoyant net for each of us. We thank the Traveler, John Morton, for gracing us throughout the trip, and for J-R being the wind perpetually beneath, in and around our wings.
With love and Light and Gratitude,
Angel
PS: The “mysterious” courier was located today and there is word of the whereabouts of our audio/video equipment. Please hold the safe and graceful return of Richard and the equipment in the Light of your Loving and Spiritual hearts as both make their way back to the U.S. and NOW Productions.
Click here to read Days 1 through 11 with Angel Gibson.
Click here to read Days 12 & 13 with Angel Gibson.
Click here see a photo slideshow from Living In Grace in Australia, 2007.
